OLATHE – Long before a near-scoreless second half grinded action to a near-standstill, Olathe East transformed into a pass-happy juggernaut.

Nothing surprising there about a downfield attack, since East junior quarterback Hunter Thomas threw for 230 yards last week in a season-opening 22-21 loss to state brute Hutchinson.

Though it was only for one quarter on Friday night, Thomas’ trio of second-quarter touchdown strikes proved to be more than enough in the Hawks’ 29-12 Sunflower League conquest of rival Olathe North on Friday night at the Olathe District Athletic Complex.

“We just preached about four quarters all week in practice,” Thomas said. “That was our emphasis. We wanted to come out and execute like we do in practice.

“We tried to get the run game going, and we have a great offensive line. It opens things up on our play-action (passes).”

Two of those East’s scores came in the final 33.1 seconds of the second period, providing a momentum-shifting tonic that lasted until North (1-1) mustered a trio of scoring drives in the fourth quarter. But East’s Ray Lewis made two interceptions from his secondary position and linebacker Ryan Brockschmidt had a third interception during the final 12 minutes, as the Hawks foiled every North scoring drive.

Moreover, the Hawks pinned North at the 1-yard line on 250-pound punter Julian Estrada’s boot, and then tacked on Dwan Washington’s plunge inside of two minutes to go for the only points of the second half.

East seemed to be playing in safe mode early on, running inside the tackles despite North seizing its early lead after a pair of first-quarter touchdowns – Zac Krause passing to Ivan Avila for a 39-yard catch-and run for a score at the midpoint and then Krause plunging in from 2 yards out at the 4:33 mark.

As North’s defensive secondary started creeping towards the line of scrimmage, sometimes putting 11 men in the box, East capitalized at the most opportune of times in the second quarter.

“We hit some short passes early,” Thomas said, “so we trying to make them come upfield. We used some double-moves and some pump-fakes.

“Their corners are really good and really aggressive, and we were able to get them to bite on the double-moves.”

The tide began turning after wide receiver TyJuan Lewis came free on the left sideline for a 73-yard scoring catch-and-run after Thomas planted a laser into his hands, slashing North’s lead to 12-7 at the 9:39 mark in the second quarter.

It spelled the beginning of the end for North (1-1)

James Grooms hauled in a 9-yard scoring reception from Thomas at the 33.1-second mark to make it 15-12 East, and then North then coughed up the football after the ensuing kickoff with East recovering the fumble and going right to work, getting its second score in a 20-second span, a 39-yard touchdown aerial to Virgil Thomas with 13.1 seconds remaining before halftime for its 10-point lead.